Blog for People, Food and Nature

With the growing role of the private sector in agricultural sustainability and responsible supply chain management, it is increasingly important that there are resources to assist this type of development. One of the really exciting developments over the past year is the emergence of a plethora of new resources and tools to aid in landscape […] ...

While both environmental degradation and food security are issues of concern around the world, considerable attention has fallen on the African continent. It not only houses considerable biodiversity and natural resources, but also human populations suffering most from huner an poverty. Increasingly, donor funds from philanthropic organizations (e.g. Gates Foundation; Rockef ...

Climate change not only poses a serious threat to agricultural production, livelihoods, and natural systems, but also in trying to manage the negative impacts presents an opportunity to rethink the current mode of land management and agricultural development. This was a big year for high-profile collections of high-level experts coming together around the issues of […] ...

Leaders from around the world converged on Nairobi in March to discuss the meaning, merits, and the modality for successful implementation of integrated landscape approaches in agricultural production systems. In those early days of 2012, and the infancy of the Landscapes Blog, a series of thought pieces framed the issues and laid the foundation for […] ...

Nearly a year ago, at the end of January 2012, the Landscapes Blog launched. Over the course of this past year, the Blog has documented the growing recognition of “landscape approaches” among diverse communities of practice and the range of activities that bring together people, food, and nature. Guest authors from the various communities – NGOs, […] ...

Every year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) produces a report on the State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA). This year the theme, Investing in Agriculture for a Better Future, follows closely with the elevated level of discussion recently surrounding funding levels and finance mechanisms for agricultural development. With a growing global [&hell ...

As the Landscapes Blog has highlighted topics related to climate change and agriculture, the issue of funding has surfaced a number of times, including a post at the beginning of the month on Navigating Finance for the Farmer. Landscapes Initiative Co-Organizer, The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) posted their take today on the finance roundtable at Agriculture, Landscapes, ...

Striving for Climate-Smart in the Heart of Kenya’s Tea Landscape In the cool, fertile highlands of the Rift Valley Province in western Kenya, the landscape is dominated by tea. Kenya is the world’s third largest producer and the leading exporter of the caffeinated leaves, and the land around the township of Kericho and bordering the […] ...

While negotiations on the nuts and bolts of REDD+ at the UNFCCC COP18 may not have progressed as hoped, REDD+ itself remains one of the most concrete mechanisms through which to provide funding for land-based carbon. As an earlier post on the Landscapes Blog noted, REDD+ also represents an opportunity for promoting non-carbon benefits of […] ...

As the climate change negotiations continued in Doha, one of the overarching themes when including agriculture was how it is in fact possible to achieve synergies between food production and forest cover. This requires a landscape approach to consider how different land uses interact and complement each other. A prime example of how agriculture and […] ...